Manufacturers need information about inventory availability, machine uptime and down time, product cycle times, yield, waste, WIP and lot tracking and genealogy. They need real-time information management tools for continuous improvement and decision support. The driving premise behind Six Sigma, ISO9000, Lean/Agile Manufacturing is collection of accurate data and its subsequent analysis to determine root causes, process bottlenecks and inefficiencies. Only a live link to the production floor can provide the link to the critical information that can control the supply chain's actual ability to perform. As a result, according to a recent Managing Automation poll, one of the top three concerns of manufacturers is "integration of plant floor systems and business systems." ProductionACE provides that real-time shop floor link.

An Advanced ERP Interface is available which enables the user to maintain the system's Job Queue and Product Databases from transactions created by an ERP/MRP system. An Activity File and a Real Time Status File are maintained to provide the ERP system with real time feedback on job starts, completions and status. Users report electronically updating inventory records improves inventory accuracy by as much as 20%.

Click here to see drag and drop production scheduling with active job completion tracking.

The annual cost of carrying inventory can be significant: 20% of average inventory value is not unreasonable. Carrying excess inventory/safety stocks therefore translates into substantial and needless costs. Conversely, carrying too little inventory means lost sales and/or dissatisfied customers. By obtaining accurate, real-time data on production, both in-process and finished goods, even from remote operations/satellite plants, you can reduce these costs, plus you can track scrap and measure "shrinkage" in the process.

For MES systems, which provide dynamic scheduling capabilities, "real" real-time data (instead of end-of-shift or Job "batch" data) is an absolute necessity. Until the advent of Machine Data Transducer systems, this type of information has been difficult to obtain because of the inability to "network" the various types of controls found in the typical manufacturing plant. With ProductionACE the production requirements are transferred to the Job Queue automatically using standard techniques. Not only does this save re-keying information, but now the production department can see estimated completion time/date of all jobs based on current shop operating conditions instead of typical "guesstimates". The Job Queue identifies late Jobs so the Scheduler can run "what if" scenarios and view impact on production schedule as requirements change and as machines and operator status changes. Then, as often as required, the MDT System can automatically upload production data to the MES.